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Made in
America
Gary Stern
® owns the
J* world’s
HjP last pinball
machine
-k'SX
Do you have diabetes?
Are you on Medicare?
If you answered "Yes" to both questions, the cost of your
diabetes testing supplies may be covered.’
Call 1-866-736-2802
Know the facts about Medicare coverage for
people with diabetes. You could be eligible for
home delivery of diabetes testing supplies from
Liberty Medical—and the costs may be covered
by Medicare* With many of the new Medicare
Prescription drug plans, you can also have Liberty
deliver your prescriptions
No up-front costs.’ With Liberty, you pay no
money up front for your diabetes testing supplies
And with qualified supplemental insurance,
chances are you'll pay nothing at all
No claim forms to fill out. Liberty takes care
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insurance company for you.
Free shipping. No-Risk Guarantee." Have your
diabetes testing supplies and prescriptions
delivered to your door, at no additional cost to
you for shipping. We'll even remind you when it’s
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satisfaction. Guaranteed.
A proud sponsor of
American Diabetes Association
Core • Care • Commitment
• Co-payments oeoucffbies and seme restrictions apoiv
Up to 90 acrys Trom shipment so anger period may- apply based on law or 'egutcTon. Some esTicricns may apply We ye unaole t
accept returns of property filled prescriptions.
' Meter offer avaiicfcie to qualified oeneficares with diabetes. Not avaiiaDie to current übery patients. No purenase necesscrv Me'er
shown tor illustrative purposes only. Cookooc*. offer deoenaert on patient enrollment Combined offer cvciiabie while suooiies lost
Terms and conations apply.
The Uoeffy Family of Companies « in compliance with Titles VI and VII a the Civil Sights Act of 1964
- * Preserving
ATTO UN Pi fl h / /
Contributing editor m m ■
Lonnie Ropp pulls back the spring-loaded
plunger on a pinball machine parked beside his desk at Stem Pinball in
Melrose Park, 111. (pep. 23,171). His eyes follow the gleaming silver ball as
it rockets to the top of the tilted table and darts among bumpers, targets
and flippers in a razzle-dazzle of lights, bells and music.
"Getting that tree game is the thrill—that's die aisli of pinball,” says Rqp,
46, a computer programmer who loves testing the games that he helps
produce “You're having a magic game where the ball refuses to drain.”
Liberty
Get your FREE METER
PLUS a Free American
Diabetes Association
Cookbook!
1-866-736-2802
www.LibertyMedical.com
" :* /: A 1 a
■i i TmmLtdf'm*
Stern Pinball games feature popular TV show and movie themes.
The magic game of pinball is alive today because of Stem Pinball,
the last pinball maker in the world. Owner Gary’ Stem continues the
family legacy begun in 1947 when his father, Sam. became a partner
in Williams Manufacturing, a Chicago pinball company. The elder
Stem had been a pinball distributor since the early 19305.
“My dad was Mr. Pinball,” says Stem, 62, recalling his father’s
stories about dating his mother and the pair emptying the coin
operated machines on his vending route.
At age 16, Gary began working summers in the stockroom at
Williams, then he and his father ran Stem Electronics from 1976
until his fathers death in 1984. "How lucky I was to work with
my dad.” says Gary, whose company became the last pinball
manufacturer in 1999 after video games drove its last competi
tor out of business.
From its beginning in the 19305, pinball scored with Americans
and kept manufacturers busy supplying games to arcades, bowling
alleys and bars. Depending on a player's skill, which came into play
with the invention of the machine's flipper in 1947, a nickel or dime
could buy seconds or hours of entertainment.
Today, Stem manufactures thousands of pinball machines a year,
producing three or four different models featuring TV or movie
characters, such as The Simpsons. Spider-Man. Lr/rd of the Rings and
Pirates of tix Caribbean. The company spends up to a year and SI
million designing a game.
Ten months before the film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans
Chest was released, designer Dennis Nordman read the script at
Walt Disney' Pictures headquarters. “You pick out the most impor
tant elements of the movie,” he say's. ‘Todays games are fun because
its like you're playing in the movie.”
After placing main elements, such as Dead Mans Chest
and the Flying Dutchman, on the playfield, he begins adding
ramps and bumpers. “The game is so three-dimensional that
we have to look tor ball traps. The design is a constantly evolv
ing process,” says Nordman, 60, who has worked in the pinball
industry for 20 years.
The company’s 60 employees build the electronic machines—
each containing 3,500 parts and a half-mile of wiring—before
final inspection and testing. “Everybody who works here is a
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